Improvement in many-chambered rotating-breech fire-arms



. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

sAML.l eoL'r, or HARTFORD, ooNNiiotrioUT. o

IMPROVEMENT IN MANY-cornaentre RoTAnNc-Battcn FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 16,683, dated February 2i, 1557.

had to the accompanying drawings, making,

part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents an elevation ofthe rear end of therotating breech, and Fig.' 2 a longitudinal sectionofthe rotating breech connected with the shield-plate and hammer.

The same' letters indicate like parts in both gures.

My said invention relates to a method of rotating. the many-ehambered breech by the act of cooking; and it consists in making grooves .in the surface of a spherical concavity in the rear end ofthe .rotating breech, to be` acted e ,upon by a spring driving pin or bolt receiving motion from the cock or `some equivalent part of the lock, so that by the vibration of the said driving-pin the breech` shall he turned or rotated to, bring the several chambers successively inline with .the barrel by the act of cocking, and held in line with the barrel during'thc discharge.

. In the accompanying drawings,n represents the rotating breech, with al series of parallel f chambers, b, formed around the central bore;

c, which ts and turns freely, but accurately, on a central pin, d, secured to the lock plate or frame e in any suitable manner. The cock or hammer f turns ona fulcrum-pin, g, in the lock plate or frame, and strikes on the nipplcsin the usual or any appropriate manner, not necessary to describe, as this makes no part of my invention. The back end of the rotating breech is recessed, as at h, forming an annular groove or coneavity concentric with the central bore, every radial section of -which inthe plane ot the axis ot' the breech will be a segment of a circle, whose center is the axis of vibration of the cock. In the face of this recess there is a series of radial grooves, i, one for each chamber, .and .another series of equal number of curved or diagonal grooves, each of which` extends from 'near the outer end of one radial groove to theinner end of the'next, and the outer end of the curved grooves is deeper and theiinner cndnot so deep as the radial grooves.

-The outer end of a roumlidriving pin or bolt, j, isfitted to work in these grooves. and its body, which is square, is fitted to work in a recess in the'body of the cock` with a spring of any suitable kind interposed sheep the pin against the face of the grooves.

From the foregoing it will be seen that in the act of cooking the pin or boltj, running in one of the curved or oblique grooves, will turn'the breech until the pin falls into the next radial groove, there stopping the, rotation of the breech, and that in the act of discharging the said pin or bolt will run along the radial groove,

retaining the breech in the same position by reason of theradial direction of this groove, so

that there can be no danger of shifting the position of the breech during the discharge; and it will also be seen that the did'erence in the depth'of the grooves in connection with `the spring, which tends to forceont the pin or bolt, will insure the running of the pin or bolt in the curved or diagonal groove in the act of cocking and in the radial groove in the act of discharging. There is another series of radial grooves, k, extending from the oblique grooves, so that al'ter the hammer has, been brought to the half cock, and the rotating breech thereby turned about half the distance of one of the spaces betweenthe chambers, the pin or bolt can then run into the short radial grooves to permit the hammer to be let down and rest on the metal surface ol' the breech, there to rest in safety until the arm is to be used; and from the mainradial andthe oblique grooves short inclined planes or concentric grooves m aie formed, extending from the bottom ofthe main grooves to the surface of the concavity, so that when the hammer is elevated to half-cock and there held the said pin or bolt will yield to the inclined surfaces of` thc lateral grooves, and

Vthus permit the breech to be brought around by hand. y o

I am aware that the niany-chalnbered breech in repeating lire-arms has been rotated to shift the chambers and the several chambers in succession held in line with the barrel' during the discharge by means ot' a driving-pin receiving motion from the cock andworking in longitudinal and diagonal grooves made sometimes on the outer surface of .the said breech and 'g i 'umso sometimes on theinner surface ofthe central..

Vbore; and I am also aware that' the'breeeh has also been thus operated by the driving-piu working iu radial and diagonal grooves made on the rear flat face thereof, but when so made, the `groove being formed in a flat surface and the cock which imparts motion to the drivingpin working on a fulcrlim or central pin, it was necessary either to connect the driver with the cock by a joint-pin or to give' the driver a considerable end-play to compensate for the difference between the curvilinear motion which thevdriver would receive from 'the cock if directly attached to it and the flat surface in which the grooves are formed, These defects I have avoided by makingv the radial and diagonal grooves in the rear end or face of? the rotating breech, which 'is so concavell that the surface thereof will correspond with the curvilinear motion of the driver vibrating on the axis of the cock. I do notthcrefore wish lto be understood as mak-iiig claim broadly to the methodv of rotating the breech by a drivingpin -wo'rking iu grooves, but to limit my claim to the special improvement which I have "made thereon.

What I claim as my invention, and dcsireto secure by lLetters Patent, is-

M akin g the series of grooves to be acted upon by the drivin g-pi n to rotate and hold the breech iu a concavity in the rear end of the rotating breech, substantially as aud for the purpose specitied.

SAM. CoL'r.

Witnesses:

C-rms. M. KELLER, WM. H. BISHOP. 

